Types of Doors Available for Your Home

Interior entryways, exterior doors, French doors, accordion doors, bi-fold doors, sliding doors. There are many styles of doors to choose from, from the utilitarian to the decorative, and everything in between. Choosing what is right for you and your home can be a task at times. Knowing the difference in the types of doors can help you find the right match for your need and residence. Read on to find out more.

Storm Doors

You may be considering a storm door for your front door to keep the weather at bay, and to help with insulation, or simply to help deter potential burglars. These doors come in a couple of styles, usually split pane glass, or a solid sheet of glass. Those beautiful French doors may appeal to you, with their lights. These doors serve a couple of functions, they allow light in, and keep pests out, while providing a limited amount of security, if employed as a front door. French doors may also be used in a double door fashion to decorate an entry way from two rooms, such as your master bedroom and the living area.

Accordion Doors

Accordion doors and bi-folds are found commonly to hide utility areas like the washer and dryer, or the hot water heater. These doors offer an easy to install solution to hide these areas away from guest and your pets or children. Sliding glass doors are used most commonly on patio entrance ways, and usually have a screen door included in the assembly to keep bugs and other pests out, while letting air to circulate throughout your house.

Hollow Doors

Simple hollow wood doors are often found in bathroom entries, and bedroom entries. Also, sometimes louvered doors are used, as well for bathroom entrances.

These door options are usually the cheapest for residences. They are cost-effective and do the job for privacy but don’t give you much sound insulation. They can also require replacement more often than other interior door types. However, when you are just getting started they are often good choices. As a note, these doors should not ever be used for exterior areas of the home.

Some less common doors found in homes are fire-retardant doors, commonly found in the entranceway from the garage and the home. This is so that in the event of a car fire or other fire in the garage, the fire will be contained in the garage, minimizing damage to the home. Most locales require this per code. There are also several types of garage doors, we’ll cover that in a later blog or you can read about metal doors here.

Door Repair

Door repair is an art that takes a bit of practice. Doors often begin to function less than perfectly, this can be due to a few reasons. The most common is the screws to the hinges come loose; this usually causes the door to not open and close properly, or bind on the handle side of the door. This is an easy fix, simply tighten the screws, or, if necessary, replace the screws in the hinge with longer ones to achieve a proper hold. You’ll know if this is necessary if the original screws are either missing, or refuse to become tight.

Another common issue with doors is the house settling, this will be apparent if the door hinges are tight, but the door still binds in a couple of areas. If the door is exterior, take note of the areas that are binding, and either sand or buff these areas down, then re-seal those areas with a polyethylene or similar wood seal. This will help to keep the swelling of the wood during weather changes to a minimum. If the door is interior, follow the same procedure, sealing the area affected is not as necessary in this case, because your home’s climate is relatively stable. In some occasions, you may find the settling was on the side of the hinge; in this case, you can look at chiseling the area in the door and door frame that the hinge interfaces with. In rare occasions, it may be necessary to cut the top or bottom of the door to fit. If you do not have experience doing the latter two, it is highly advised you find a professional.

Other issues with doors are failed door handles, dead bolts, and hinges. These problems are fairly easy to diagnose and repair (usually replacement is necessary).

Need Some Home Help?

If you need assistance either choosing the right doors for your house, or with repair of doors not functioning properly, please enter your ZIP code below and click ‘Get a quote’ to find a contractor near you. We have both door installers and repair contractors to help you. No matter what your door need is in your residence – ThisHandyMan.com has their door open to help you!